How we got here: Waukesha's journey to get water from Milwaukee almost over

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (left) and Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly share a toast with glasses of Milwaukee water, as they announced that they have negotiated an agreement for the Milwaukee Water Works to provide a Lake Michigan water supply to the Waukesha Water Utility at a press event held at Discovery World on Milwaukee's lakefront.(Photo: Michael Sears / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)Buy Photo

WAUKESHA - The city's water supply will flow by way of Milwaukee, but that decision is hardly the end of the historically long process.

And the road ahead won't be nearly as long as what has transpired to date.

In a landmark decision, which became unexpectedly more difficult following an 11th bid in July, Waukesha officials have opted to work with Milwaukee instead of Oak Creek to bring Lake Michigan water into the city as part of a plan to reduce radium content to meet a federal standard.

Waukesha must still build the infrastructure that will carry the water back and forth across the metro area. The city has a recently revised 2023 deadline to eliminate the noncompliant radium levels, and officials have said the system should be in place comfortably before that time.

But the decision, city officials say, is nonetheless an important step in an idea that dates back at least 14 years and a plan that has been in the works for nearly a decade.

"So after 14 years of discussion and studies, now we are at the point where we will be reaching another milestone, ... the starting of construction and working to get the residents of the city of Waukesha on a long-term sustainable water supply," said Dan Duchniak, Waukesha Water Utility's general manager.

Why Milwaukee?

The project will work its way from Waukesha to Milwaukee.

The city has its reasons for selecting Milwaukee over Oak Creek, with whom the city previously had an exclusivity agreement that expired mid-year, Duchniak said.

It all centers on the cost of delivering water, a point which became a focal point when Milwaukee became a second viable bidder.

After Milwaukee unexpectedly contacted the city with a proposal in April, the city had to wait until the exclusivity clause expired before it could again negotiate with Oak Creek and Milwaukee simultaneously, he explained.

"Ultimately, it led to the point where there is a $40 million savings for the residents of the city of Waukesha and a cheaper wholesale water rate (from Milwaukee), which leads to a savings of about $200 per year per customer in the city," Duchniak said. "And that's a lot of money.

"And when you look the largest water users in the city, the top five will save an average of $55,000 per year," he added. "When you look at those numbers, we couldn't pass on that savings."

The city did see if Oak Creek, who Duchniak called "a great partner to work with," could adjust its proposal enough to make a significant difference,

"However, we just couldn't close that difference and ultimately we had to make a decision to go the way that we did," he said.

"I think the residents of the city will be happy with the water quality we will get from (Milwaukee) and be happy with ultimately the price they are going to pay," Duchniak said.

While the decision was neither quick nor easy, it pales in comparison to what preceded it and what's to come.

The beginning

According to city officials and historical sources, the source of the problem goes back to the end of Waukesha's springs era circa 1920, when the city was still a tourist attraction, ironically, because of its water.

The mineral water that bubbled to the surface from those famous springs, of which there were dozens, was soon replaced by a practical, expandable city water supply from deep wells into a sandstone aquifer.

As the city grew, deeper and deeper wells were dug to supply water for development. Eventually, the deepest wells tapped a level were radium, a natural radioactive element present in a deep aquifer locally, was more prevalent, according to historical records.

Waukesha's decision to consider other water supplies began in the 1990s, when the city began facing a compliance order to reduce the concentration of radium, a carcinogen, in its water supply.

"Throughout this entire process, we always let facts and science drive the discussion," Duchniak said, alluding to the various studies and steps along the way.

Over the next decade, the city considered its options, including the use of different shallow wells and a treatment facility to remove radium, according to Duchniak, recalling a future water supply study in 2003. Lake Michigan water was also among the options in that study 14 years ago.

Eventually, the focus shifted to lake water in 2010, but first the city had to lead a highly detailed study demonstrating why that option bested over solutions. The study, conducted with and approved by the state Department of Natural Resources, concluded Waukesha could no longer depend on groundwater sources in the long-term due to ever-depleting aquifers and the presence of radium deep underground.

That study was presented as part of the city's water diversion application, under terms of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact.

The regional compact, which went into effect in 2008, restricts communities outside of the watershed basin from using Great Lakes water unless they are in a county straddling the basin and only if other sources of water are deemed inadequate.

What transpired was a series of presentations, public hearings, political debates and process reviews leading up to a 2016 decision by the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council, consisting of the governors of the eight Great Lakes states.

The governing body ultimately approved Waukesha's application and reaffirmed it early in 2017. Opposition groups, prevalent throughout the process both locally and regionally, announced in August they would not challenge the ruling in court.

To the end

Now comes the most costly stage of the process: building the system.

First comes the planning process for the infrastructure.

While the exact numbers aren't known, pending final designs, the series of pipes, pumps and channels had been estimated (in 2012) at $207 million. Some reports had indicated the costs, adjusted for inflation, could top $300 million. But, under the Milwaukee deal, the cost is now estimated at $286 million, Duchniak said.

According to a press release issued jointly by Waukesha and Milwaukee, the project will entail construction of pumping facilities and a 15.6-mile pipeline from roughly 60th Street and Howard Avenue in Milwaukee to Waukesha.

Under the compact agreement, Waukesha can use up to 8.2 million gallons of water a day, but must return 100 percent of it, fully treated, through a system that channels water back to the lake through the Root River.

The water will return by way of a second pipeline from Waukesha’s Clean Water Plant to an outfall point in Franklin that empties into the Root River, ultimately flowing back to Lake Michigan. Construction is expected to begin in early 2020, with completion in 2023.

The decision to opt for Milwaukee as a water partner will force the city to revise its earlier preliminary plans — a cost factor considered in the decision to shift from what had been a presumed deal with Oak Creek to a newer deal with Milwaukee, Duchniak said.

Details of the revised project will unfold in the coming months, he said.

According to the press release, issued Oct. 30, over the coming weeks, the agreement will go before the Waukesha and Milwaukee common councils for review and approval.

Waukesha Common Council President Aaron Perry expressed satisfaction over the city's long efforts to find a safe water supply.

“Reaching a long-term agreement with a reliable water supplier is a major milestone on our path to secure a reliable water supply," Perry said. "It is great to be moving toward the end of planning and the start of construction in 2020.”